Story and Photos by Tom Niemela
Jim and I decided to take a short morning romp on Saturday morn, so we met at 7am at the local mocha shop, pulled out the maps and decided to explore the Timber/Cochran area (West of Banks, OR). We hadn't been on our BMW GSes for awhile, so it really felt good to let them stretch their legs. On the way out, we took an old gravel road to stop and see my old college buddie's house, but he wasn't home, so we continued to Timber. From Timber we headed West out Cochran Road until we got to Cochran. Along the way we took a detour up to Round Top Mountain where we had to slither by a gate. This was no easy task on the behemoths, so we shoehorned my bike by and rode two-up to the summit. It had recently been clearcut, so while not pretty, it afforded an awesome 360 degree view.
After going through Cochran, we made our way up Standard Grade Road looking for Storeyburn Road, so we could head over to the summit of Hwy. 6, but another locked gate prevented us from continuing, so we made our way back the way we came in. An awesome day, great weather, we got our fix and we were back by noon.
(click on thumbnails for larger picture)
 Tom trying to get the huge Beemer around a gate. 8:46:40 am |
 Notice we had to take off one of the saddlebags to make the clearance. Yes, there was a dropoff to the right! 8:47:37 am |
 Jim playing chicken with an unsuspecting train. 9:05:23 am |
 Now we know who was chicken. 9:06:52 am |
 What Tom saw in his mirror all day. 9:34:24 am |
 At the intersection of Storeyburn Road and Standard Grade. 9:52:39 am |
 Cool old building in Timber and Tom's ugly Barney bike. 10:19:51 am |